DOT freight index dips in January

For-hire transportation freight fell 3.6 percent in January from December, after five consecutive monthly increases, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Freight Transportation Services Index.

The January TSI was 1.6 percent higher than a year earlier, DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported. Shipments in January were at the second highest level since July 2008.

Freight TSI measures the month-to-month changes in freight shipments in ton-miles, which are then combined into one index. The index consists of data from for-hire trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight.